Hydrogen production by oxidative reforming of ethanol in a fluidized bed reactor using a Pt Ni/CeO2SiO2 catalyst

Abstract

Abstract Oxidative steam reforming of ethanol (OESR) was investigated over Pt Ni/CeO2 SiO2 catalysts prepared from different cerium salt precursors. During stability tests performed at 500 °C, steam/ethanol ratio (S/E) of 4 and oxygen/ethanol ratio of 0.5 (O/E), the highest performance was recorded over the catalyst prepared form organic precursors. The most promising formulation was tested at different temperatures, S/E and O/E. Complete conversion was recorded during 100 h of the test at 600 °C, with a very low carbon formation rate (6.9·10−7 gcoke, oxidized·gcatalyst−1·gcarbon,fed−1·h−1). The increase of oxygen content in the reacting mixture from 5 to 7.5% had a beneficial effect on H2 yield, which rose of more than 20% after 100 h of test, and on the conversion of by-products. When steam/ethanol ratio grew from 4 to 6, a slightly lower performance improvement was observed. Therefore, the highest activity and stability during OESR over the Pt Ni/CeO2 SiO2 catalyst prepared from organic salts was achieved at 600 °C, O/E = 0.75 and S/E = 6.